But a spokeswoman for the airline says that the carrier is looking at other options to exploit the capacity and, while the plan has not been firmed, it is not ruling out putting the 538-seat jet on the route.

While not giving full details of the reasoning behind the potential deployment, which could occur "in the next few weeks", she indicates that pilot training and a desire to maximise the use of the aircraft are among the considerations.

She adds that Paris-London is a busy route and other carriers have shown that they can justify large-capacity aircraft on relatively short, high-density sectors.